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HOME OFFICE
Lunar House Wellesley Road Croydon CR9 2BY Telephone (Immigration) 01-686 0688) Calls answered in turn (Nationality) 01-686 3441) please wait for a reply
Please reply to The Under Secretary of State Your reference
Our reference
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Thank you for your enquiry of
about the adoption of a child living overseas. This letter and the appendices are intended to provide helpful information. If you require further advice, this may be sought from this Department, the Child Care Division of the Department o Health and Social Security at Alexander Fleming House, Elephant and Castle, London SE1 6BY (telephone 01-407 5522) or the British High Commission, Embassy or Consulate nearest to where the child is living abroad.
ADOPTIONS BY ORDER OF COURT IN DESIGNATED COUNTRIES OVERSEAS
1. The way in which cases are handled depends on whether the child is adopted overseas or is to be brought to the U.K. for adoption here. Adoptions made by order of a Court in one of the countries specified in the Adoption (Designation of Overseas Adoptions) Order 1973 (which are set out in Appendix 1) are recognised as valid under United Kingdom legislation. If you adopt a child by this process in one of these countries, an application for entry clearance to come to this country must be made on behalf of the child to the British High Commission, Embassy or Consulate nearest to where the child is living, before he or she intends to travel to the United Kingdom. Certain documents will be required in support of the application including the Court order. Further advice can be obtained either from this Department or from one of the British diplomatic posts referred to above.
THE PROCEDURE FOR CHILDREN COMING TO THE UNITED KINGDOM FOR ADOPTION HERE
2. The rest of this letter explains the procedure to be followed if alternatively you wish to bring to the United Kingdom for adoption here a child living in any other country. You must apply for permission to bring the child here for adoption under United Kingdom law. This applies even if you have already taken steps to adopt the child in his own country, since such an adoption may not be recognised as valid in the United Kingdom.
IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS
3. Before permission is given for the child to come here, the Home Office will need to be satisfied that there are no reasons under the Immigration Rules why the child should not be admitted. We will also need to be satisfied that it is in the child's best interests to be adopted and that there are no obvious reasons why an adoption order might not be granted in the United Kingdom. The child must have an entry clearance before travelling (see paragraph 9). An entry clearance cannot be issued before all the necessary information has been provided to enable a decision to be reached.
4. There is in fact no provision in the Immigration Rules* for a child to come to the United Kingdom for adoption. However, the Home Secretary may exceptionally exercise his discretion to allow a child to
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The Immigration Rules are made under the Immigration Act 1971, and approved by Parliament. The current rules are contained in House of Commons Paper 169 of 9 February 1983 as amended by House of Commons Paper 503 of 15 July 1985.
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